Unit tower drier



Dec. 12, 1933. F. w. EGAN UNIT TOWER DRIER Filed Jan. 7, 1932 ATTORN EY Patented Dec. 12, 1933 y 7 UNIT TOWER. DRIER Francis William Egan, West Englewood, N. J.,

assignor to John Waldron Corporation, New

Brunswick, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Application January 7, 1932. Serial No. 585,206

5 Claims. (Cl. 3448) This invention relates to a unit tower heater.

In the paper and other industries it is desirable to provide forms of driers wherein the material being treated can be dried in a heated atmosphere of dry air. In some cases a horizontal structure would take up too much room so a tower form is utilized. In addition such structure is usually more efficient due to natural up-.

ward flow of the hot gases.

One of the objects of thisinvention is to provide a tower heater that can be formed by a plurality of standard units. A further object of the invention is to provide a more efiicient tower heater. Still another object of the invention is to direct and control the flow of the hot gases to effectively dry the material being heated. A still further object of the invention is to secure a more effective heat transference from the steam pipes to the drying medium. 1

Referring to the drawing: I

Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a device embodying the principles of my invention.

Figure 2 is a cross sectional view of Figure 1 along the line 2, 2, looking in the direction of the arrows. r

Figure 3 is a detail view of a steam pipe showing the welded fins for better heat transference and for air bafiling purposes. 7 V

Figure 4 is a modified view of a steam pipe showing the fins longitudinally of the pipe.

In carrying out my invention, I provide a housing 1 which may be of metal either insulated or not as desired and adapted to have bolted above it a similar housing 1' or a duplicate at its rear and right side. Within housing 1 are a plurality of openings 2 from manifold 3 leading from hot air supply duct 4. A steam header 5 above ports 2 communicates with steam headers 6 running at right angles to header 5. Each header 6 has a plurality of steam pipes 7 leading therefrom and extending to adjacent the top of the unit. The alternate steam pipes 7 in each header 6 are staggered to permit of the insertion of a corrugated bafile 8 to separate the steam pipes into two sets of pipes and to form compartments 9 wherein one-half in number of the pipes of adjacent headers 6 are in one compartment 9 and the other half in number of the other pipes are in the next compartments 9. Above the steam pipes are ports 10 to manifold 11 leading to conduit 12 to be reheated and returned to the system or to be lead to either the atmosphere or to a chemical recovery chamber.

Thepaper 13 or other material is led from un- Wind roll 14 around rolls 15, 15', 15", 16, 1'7, thence up the interior of housing 1 between a side wall and steam pipes 7 in compartment 9 formed by the baflle 8 and one-half the number of steam pipes 7 of header 6 and the side wall and end walls of housing 1. Then the paperl3 travels around roll .18 through a similar compartment 9 and around a roll 19 immersed in a bath 27 to coat or otherwise treat the paper or other. material 13 up past doctors 28 and thence up through 5 another similar compartment 9 and over a similar roll 18 inthe upper unit. This is repeated until the material has been treated the required number of times and'then the material passes over rolls 20, 20, and up and over a roll not shown exteriorly of the tower and down between rolls 21, 21, and around rolls 22, 22', and over windup roll 23. In the drawing the upper units are not shown as they are mere repetitions of the lower unit although the heated air ports 2 are shown together with the inlet manifold for the heated gases.

By bafiiing the staggered pipes 7 of the headers 6 and dividing the interior of the housing into compartments 9 for the material to pass so through, the direction of flow of the heated drying medium can be controlled and difficulties due to cross currents, eddies, etc., are eliminated. The fins 24 welded or otherwise secured to the steam pipes '7 not only increase the heat trans- .85 ference of the heat in the steam to the heated drying medium but in the forms shown in Figures 3 and 4 force the passage upward of the drying medium adjacent the material being dried. Under such action a maximum drying efiect is secured. In addition, the drying effect in each compartment 9 is made more uniform by the bafiiing than would otherwise be the case where the structure was not so divided and the gases may flow as they will. The-rapid movement up and down of the material in an open housing creates swirling and eddies and .prevents effective drying.

The construction herein shown dividing the drying compartment into separate-chambers for each pass of material not only permits of a conditioning of the material passing through the chambers but also permits of a separation of the volatiles particularly where lacquers are utilized so that as the material progresses from the initial passes towards the final passes the later passes have less volatiles driven off with a consequent more thorough drying action taking place. In addition, there is less danger of explosion and in the case of solvent recoveries or the recoveries 0 of the volatiles it is much more efiicient since the concentrated volatiles may be withdrawn from the sections wherein they are given ofi in greater concentration. Furthermore, this construction reduces the size of the unit that might otherwise be required since there is no space lost as the battling takes up no additional room and yet divides the rows of pipes into two rows.

By constructing the tower of standard sectional units greater cheapness can be had with greater flexibility of design since the towers may be one, two or more units in height. As the drying medium is controlled there is no loss in efficiency whether the tower isone or more sections in height. Such constructions and results were not previously attainable in" previous tower driers.

It will therefore be seen that I' have invented a tower heater of simple design, of 'unit secpipe of each row 'to :provide a row of alternate pipes on one side of the baflle and the other row of alternate pipes on the other side of the ba'file, said'baffl'es dividing the drying chamberinto separate open end compartments, means for passing -the'material 'to be dried through each compartment.

2. In a 'drier a drying compartment, rows 'of steam pipes therein, headers for each row of pipes, baflles interwoven between the-pipes of --*of each row to provide separate open end chamin, rows ofstaggered steam pipes carried by each header, bafiles interwoven between the'pipes of each row to provide open 'end chambers with steam pipes on the sides thereof, means forpassing the material to be dried through each com- 'partment successively.

5. In adrierpa drying compartment,-*rows of staggered steam pipes, headers for -"each row of steam pipes, baifies interwoven between 'thepipes of each row, said'bafiies connected to the sides of said drying compartment-and *to the headers forming separate open end chambers in said drying compartment.

FRANCIS "WILLIAM EGAN. 

